Yesterday, the Mets exploded for 16 runs. Leading the way was Todd Frazier going 3-for-6, 2 runs, 4 RBIs with a slam (12) and legs (7). Actually, Frazier, Jose Bautista (1-for-3, 1 RBI), Jose Reyes (2-for-5, 2 runs) and Austin Jackson (2-for-4, 2 runs) are all starting to click! Wait, that’s their bones and it’s from arthritis. Shoot, my b. The true star, however, Brandon Nimmo (5-for-5, 3 runs, 3 RBIs) rose from the depths of the deep, dark water. That’s not a Finding Nemo allusion. He plays in Flushing and we know what water is associated with that. Nimms — Can we call him that? Sure, right? — is hitting near .350 in the last week, and homered a few games ago (precise!). For most part, it’s been dank Nimms but he’s no longer unDeRWaTEr aND HitTinG WeLL. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Dylan Bundy – 5 1/3 IP, 7 ER, ERA at 4.99. The Orioles’ pitching is so bad Jim Palmer is ripping up pictures of himself posed in underwear.

Jonathan Villar – 2-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 8th homer, hitting .288 on the O’s and .265 overall. I saw a Brewer fan complaining that Villar could’ve been doing the same thing Schoop has done over the last few weeks. Wonder how they feel about Scooter Gennett.

James Paxton – Hit the DL with a forearm contusion. NO!!! NOT A CONTUSION!!! Wait, it says here a contusion is a bruise. Oh, c’mon!

Jean Segura – 4-for-5, hitting .314. 2nd four-hit game by Segura in the last three games. He must have an outside chance at the AL batting title. *looks at Betts’ batting average* Okay, Segura doesn’t really have a chance.

Dee Gordon – 1-for-5, 2 RBIs and his 2nd homer. Scoreless game through 11 innings, then Gordon broke it wide open with a 367 foot blast! After the game, Dee Gordon received a congratulatory call from the President of the Juan Pierre Fan Club, who happens to be Juan Pierre.

Dansby Swanson – 1-for-3, 3 RBIs and his 10th homer, and before crossing home plate he crossed himself and kissed his hand like Acuña would and I’m not crying, you’re crying!

Charlie Culberson – 3-for-4, 2 runs and his 4th steal and has been one of the hottest fire emojis in the last week. Don’t believe me? I have a cure for your sketpicism. On our 7-day Player Rater, he’s near top ten.

Kevin Gausman – 6 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 2 Ks, ERA at 2.84 in the NL and 4.22 overall. No DH, pitchers hit (poorly) and you get double-switched before having your shizz blown up. Plus, NL East vs. AL East. Where do I sign up to draft Gausman for next year?

Ross Stripling – Hit the DL after visiting a back specialist. Damn, the Dodgers are going out of their way to prove these aren’t fake injuries. I keed. Obviously, this isn’t good, and he’s likely out a few weeks.

Hyun-Jin Ryu – 6 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 1.77, as he was activated from the DL. As I told everyone who asked, I would absolutely grab Ryu in every league. He was sidelined for months due to his groin — hey now! — not an arm injury. That means his arm is extremely fresh.

Brandon Morrow – Set for mound work. Better make sure you have your Groundskeeper Union dues in order!

Kyle Hendricks – 6 IP, 4 ER, 9 baserunners, 8 Ks, ERA at 4.11. Solid start for Hendricks. *you looking at 6 IP, 4 ER and wondering how that’s solid* It’s solid for him. *someone moseys up with their thumbs in their belt and chest puffed out* Moseyer, “It was better before the bullpen allowed two more runs on his line.” Thanks, Moseyer!

David Bote – 2-for-5, 2 runs, hitting .333, as he hit third. David Bote hit one of the biggest regular season comeback homers of all-time on Monday, then sat the next game for Tommy La Stella. So, Bote is great, but you explain to me what Maddon is doing.

Albert Almora Jr. – 1-for-3 and his 5th homer as he bats fifth. Again, what is Maddon doing? No foolsies, I think Ben Zobrist’s Robot Manager could manage the Cubs to the playoffs and anyone with a grasp of the game of baseball could do exactly the same job as Maddon.

Ryan Braun – Left yesterday’s game with rib cage tightness. We should’ve known there was a problem when Braun declared Bruce Willis was his archenemy in Unbreakable.

Evan Gattis – 3-for-4, and his 22nd and 23rd homer. “I don’t think we can use his body for chum without first chopping it up–Taking it back! Gattis is breathing, and that would be murder!” Looks like Gattis is showing a pulse again after a pee-poor 2nd half thus far.

Yuli Gurriel – 2-for-3, 3 runs, 2 RBIs and his 7th homer. I’m mentioning him more to say, ‘Yes, I am cyclops’ing him,’ but not much else.

Tyler White – 2-for-4, 4 RBIs and his 6th and 7th homer, hitting .286. That’s four homers in the last week, and we need to stop worrying about why Kyle Tucker was called up to sit on the bench and grab White like we’re Phil Rizzuto in the booth.

Gerrit Cole – 6 IP, 1 ER, 5 baserunners, 12 Ks, ERA at 2.71. “Cole mines gold in the Rockies, and more after the break. Now that we’re away to commercial, I just wanted to say you are thicc in the best possible–We’re not at commercial?” That’s your local sports anchor blooper.

Luis Cessa – 3 1/3 IP, 5 ER, ERA at 5.60. The Yankees need to go on a diet where they go without a Luis for about two weeks. Film it and call it The Bigger Luis’er.

Miguel Andujar – 2-for-4 and his 19th homer, and his 5th homer in the last eight games. I call that an Andujack!

Tommy Pham – Will return today from the DL after fracturing his foot. Pham returned from a fractured foot faster than Wil Myers from the hiccups.

Salvador Perez – 3-for-4, 3 RBIs and his 20th and 21st homer. He becomes the 5th Royal in franchise history with 4 consecutive 20-homer seasons with Balboni, Bo, Sweeney and Mayberry or BBSM, which also stands for the erotic pleasure from being miserable watching the Royals.

Kevin Pillar – 2-for-3, 2 RBIs and homered on Tuesday. Could be a schmotato risin’, gonna keep on risin’.

Melky Cabrera – 1-for-4, 2 RBIs and his 3rd homer, hitting near.350 in the last week with two homers this week. “The other day I pointed out how hot he is, don’t make me go back there!” said in dad voice.

Shane Bieber – 4 1/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 4.37. You guys had a good ride. You were able to tell your girlfriend, “Hey, check it out, his name is Bieber,” and she patronized you with a smile and now it’s time to drop him.

Victor Martinez – 1-for-1, hitting .244, and said he’s expecting to retire after this season. This year for Martinez has been like when you’re in the shower and there’s no shampoo left so you fill the bottle with water to try to get a little bit more out of it.

Jordan Zimmermann – 5 IP, 6 ER, ERA at 4.36. The good news is you didn’t own him. The bad news is you did own him. The Mad Libs news is, “You did (too/not) own him!”

Carlos Rodon – 8 IP, 3 ER, 6 baserunners, 6 Ks, ERA at 2.69. The Stream-o-Nator liked him yesterday, but loves him in his next start and I see no reason why he shouldn’t be owned until further notice. Plus, his ERA ends in 69 and you can’t spell notice without nice. Coincidence? Nice in there too!

Jose Abreu – 3-for-5, 3 RBIs and his 21st homer, hitting .268. Abreu is on pace for 28 HRs and 100 RBIs. The most yawnstipating 1st baseman? Think he might get the title.

Matt Davidson – 3-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBIs and his 17th homer, hitting .227. The Marla Gibbs Line! If your last name is the “son of David,” you have to go by “Baby Schwimmer,” it’s the rule. As for Davidson, he is the type to get crazy hot for a week-long stretch.

Jose Berrios – 3 2/3 IP, 3 ER, ERA at 3.75. He is so inconsistent I’m going to start call him Restaurant Iced Tea. When you order restaurant iced tea, are you going to get sweetened? Non-sweetened? Black tea? Green Tea? Rooibos?! Lipton!? Snapple?! No one has any idea what they’re getting! That’s Berrios.

Matt Carpenter – Left after getting hit by a pitch. How did Jose Urena hit Carpenter too? I don’t know, but that’s what I’m believing!

Michael Wacha – Nearing a rehab assignment. Sounds great, hope his Uber driver gets him there. By the way, I’m signing up to be an Uber driver, but I’m going to pick up people on a mop made to look like a horsie.

The other day I asked about some OF’s to stream this week and mentioned “Wild Card Melky”. You seemed to have brushed it off by saying “is he really a wild card though”. I wish I pulled the trigger on it. But I added Mazara and Pham this week so hopefully I can start both of them tomorrow.

First a rant: As an Acuna owner and Pirates fan, if I miss Acuna when the Braves play their 3 game series vs PGH starting Monday I will legit be pissed. He and the Braves are the one team I have waited all year to see (they are easily my favorite team, not named the Pirates). Acuna is such a fun player and exactly what baseball needs with his overall skill set/personality and general love of the game.

What a joke Urena is to plunk a guy in a vital spot. If you have been getting lit up by Acuna and you really wanted to “send a message” just throw brush back pitch. Just because you and your team can’t figure out how to pitch to a 20 year old phenomenon, doesn’t warrant taking him out of the game when he is essentially defenseless. End Rant

Now my question about another guy who infuriates me: Jose Quintana in a Dynasty league, what do you do with this guy? Ryu is out there, do I cut Q for him? He is the biggest elephant in the room with my pitching staff of guys who are supposed to be good, but utterly suck.

Thanks being my baseball therapist and for your advice. Have a great rest of the day!

For An Armenianless Vacation Come to Akronsays:
August 16, 2018 at 4:48 am (link)

putting challenge getting screwed at OAKtown for some reason, even though he’s been a good deal better than rodney esp, but also familia all year. now 4th in line. have these in 15 team roto dynasty holds + saves together: rondon, hand, putting challenge, romo, brach (just got to replace madson, who i got to replace kelvin).

-drop putting challenge for any of:
– rogers (tearing shit up at the TONS of volume MIN lately)
– floro (sort of 8th inning now at LAD,
– hunter
– gearrin (now 8th inning at TEX town)
– giles
– wily P
– mayers (appears to be the new overworked STL lefty, even with matheny gone that role has tons of volume over the years (siegrist/lyons))

12 team h2h cats league, eddie rosario has had such a great overall year, but is it time to drop him? 3 outfield spots and one util. Rest of my outfield is trout, springer, acuna, soto, profar(elgibility everywhere). Thanks.

@Christopher Coriell: Yawn. Ranked #33 in Yahoo. Yeah he stinks. Since when is making people understand how a baseball season goes, with ebbs and flows, a stupid comment? I never said he was great. I said you were getting huge value out of him for where you drafted him. So check yourself before I wreck yourself.

@Cram It: Cram It. Hey dumb ass. I understand how baseball works. He’s been ebbing for 2 months after a hot start. I asked Grey, the expert, what he thought of Rosario last week and our dumb ass had to comment an idiotic response. You keep telling me where he’s ranked for the season. Maybe it’s you, the pseudo wanna be EXPERT who doesn’t understand baseball. Just a smart ass with a big mouth. As far as YOU wrecking ME? Please dummy! Don’t be as stupid as you are!

@Christopher Coriell Nope, you got me. I don’t understand baseball. Never played it in college. Never finished 1st in the RCL Master Standings. Never win thousands of dollars a year playing fantasy baseball. I just hangout on Razzball all day giving terrible advice. You know me so well.

@Cram It: Cram It….regardless of your so called genius and financial accolades in fantasy baseball…NO ONE wants your dumbass comments regardless of your wealth of knowledge. We come here to enjoy Greys wit and wisdom. I’m absolutely certain that I’m not alone in saying that we don’t come to Razzball to hear from you!

Cool bro. You make it sound like I’m trying to do a comedy routine in here, when in reality, you’re just butthurt by the one comment I made to you about Rosario. You have the freedom TO NOT READ THE WORDS. You have the freedom to post your opinion about me and I have the freedom to offer my opinion about fantasy baseball. This is what I think about your opinion:

@Christopher Coriell: Not that I need to defend my skills to you, but you are absolutely wrong about being absolutely certain that no one wants my advice. I could pull examples for you, but you have no idea wtf you’re talking about so I’ll just feel embarrassed for you for being so wrong.

@Cram It: tbf it seems like Cram only responds to layups and whatever he considers “dumb/obvious/annoying” questions. Basically anything his superior intellect gets triggered by,
I enjoy him in most cases
dont @me
cram be cram

This is great! I had the same reaction to you at first Cram with your holier than thou, snarky junior high level sarcasm. But you know your stuff and I enjoyed learning to wade through your insecurities to get some solid fantasy advice.

My guess: this fantasy stuff is the one area of success in your otherwise sad, underachieving life. But you give good advice! Keep up the good work.

Nice! I had the same initial reaction to his rants. But the dude is smart. Take the advice, but leave the immaturity alone. You will get along alright! It is fun to tee him up every once in awhile too.

I am still grappling with the trauma of seeing Acuña drilled just as my team is toying with 1st place in my 15 team league. Bad Urine-ah. You really have pissed me off with that 97.5 mph fastball to open the game.

@Slappy Jack: He prolly would’ve charged, if he wasn’t legitimately hurt — why can’t hitters celebrate… Football players do dances — what if the next batter started down 0-1 if his teammate celebrated?

@Grey: “They’re killing you. You’ve lost three games, he’s hit three home runs (actually 4). You’ve got to hit him,” Hernandez said. “I’m sorry. I mean, people are not going to like that, but you’ve got to hit him and knock him down — I mean seriously knock him down if you’re going to hit him.”

@Dave D, Mayor of Sotoacuña: I also have a theory that in Urena’s ineptitude , reaching for his fastest fastball to make Acuna look stupid …
backfired because he’s not actually a good pitcher and shizz didn’t go as planned

@Grey: Funny you should bring up DeGrom,
Chipper Jones responded to Hernandez by saying, with that logic DeGrom should get plunked every start because he’s one of the hottest pitchers on the planet … or something similar

@Grey: Follow up question – I’m assuming you’re ranking based on quality of their stuff and the likelihood of save opps? I’d have to imagine the Nats are going to put Glover in a better position to close out games than the Twins/Marlins?

Good Morning FML, I think I’ve seen about enough out of Archer for this year so drop him for Gausman or Carlos Rodon?
Mchugh on my roster as well not providing a whole lot of anything, would you continue to hold or so you still think a role change could be coming?
Gotta believe I’ve gotta drop Muncy now that he’s only getting 3-5 starts a week, I could pick up David Peralta, Mazara, Conforto, or Nick Williams.
Thanks buddy!

Grey! Top o the morning to ya. Yawnspiring 1b – Currently have Josh Bell…would you drop him for any of Tyler White, Trey Mancini, The ever so boring Yuli Guriel?? If so, which way would the almighty Grey go?

@Five-on-One: the big change vs the previous night is weather. It’s going to be hot but not seeing anything notable with wind. There is also a reset on likelihood to start for all the hitters so it’s possible someone was activated/deactivated or their % chances were increased based on regular playing time. i don’t see any meaningful transactions. i had set him to stream as well – still rolling w/ it.

I’m thinking about cutting Posey to activate Ramos in a 14 team OPS league…I nabbed Jansen the other day, but missed getting Ward. I think carrying a backup C might be unnecessary at this point, but want to wait a few days to see Jansen’s situation. Do you think Jansen has more upside ROS than Posey?

And I just don’t know what to do… part of my gut says drop him, but another part of me says if I do, my opponent will pick him up and he’ll finally score 3 consecutive 30+ point games.

But there are also a couple of potential alternatives on the wire – Pivetta and Gibson – that I’ll be trying to stream with or without Archer. Few other good streaming options this next week and a half include Stroman vs BAL, Fiers vs TEX, Ryu vs StL, Glasnow vs KC, Suarez vs TEX.

Start by start:
Pittsburgh is a good pitcher park, but Atlanta’s offense is picking up.
Likely wouldn’t start him at Milwaukee.
At Atlanta probably isn’t ideal, but TBD.
Vs Miami is an ideal start (unless he can’t get out of the 5th).

@Grey: Good to see this. Was just going to ask if it was ok to drop Moncada for a Willy Adames type. I’m running away with HRs and struggling in AVG, so seems like a decent drop, but he’s still 98% owned in NFBC OC leagues (12 teamers), so always hesitate.

I was at Camden Yards last night. I was fairly certain there were more Mets fans there than O’s. Of course, that meant more public urination, but hey, it was a fun win to watch! Jackson and Reyes tripled in the same inning and Nimmo almost added a third. I was excited when a guy named Jack Reinheimer came to bat for us and promptly roped a single. I mean, that name! The excitement immediately dissipated when I googled his career. An ass-kicking private investigator, he is not!

Grey
Acuna in the past week: 7 HR
The rest of my team in the past week: 10 HR.
Im in second place in my league and if friggin Jose Urias cost me my best hitter, I swear Im petitioning the MLB to get my fantasy league entry fee out of his paycheck…
Rant over.

But Grey, what in the name of climate change science am I doing with Darvish at this point. I picked him up on waivers in a keeper league, keep 8, no salary, but after he has continued to schadenfreude me, I am thinking of cutting bait as I could use the DL spot for Stripling for a few weeks. Drop him and do some streaming, like, say, today, DeScalfani?

10 team h2h, pitching cats are K/ERA/WHIP/W/L/K:BB/NSV

Have Nola, Thor, Newcomb, Wood, and Roark not banged up and Stripling, Paxton, and Darvish hurtin’ in the bones. I also have Treinen, Gnesslemen, Koda, Parker, and Minter in the box for saves. Let me know what you think.

Trying to win it in 13 team mixed keeper this year. Watching it all slip away as my bats have turned ice cold this month… Tough spot since I’ve got some legit guys I can’t just drop. Of the list below, is there anyone you think I should move on from/try to trade, or is it just a question of waiting it out til the bats come back (hopefully)?

Loving the baseball wisdom you’ve been giving, thanks!
Question:
Is it time to drop Hosmer, even for someone like Culberson or Dahl? Don’t need a specific position, just a hot bat. Been hanging on to Hosmer and wishing and hoping and praying, but it is getting old.

I’m not too far from Amish country PA… And there’s an Amish dude who’s Ubered his horse/buggy. The catch is that he doesn’t have a cellphone/internet/data plan/etc… I imagine your mop will meet with similar hesitancy, just not sure it has the same je ne sais quoi.

Why is one of my teams snake bit no matter what I do? And one team has the Midas touch? Does Piscotty know?

This may be a little too convoluted to make sense of, but I’m going to give it a shot.

I’ve got two more roster moves left for the week. My opponent is already up on me in W’s(by 2), & K’s(by 30) I’m ahead in all the ratios. He’s got 6 more starts left this week and I’ve got 5. Streamonator loves all his starts, it loves 4 of my starts the 5th is Weaver today. All the hitting categories are a toss up at this point. I’m probably not going to catch up in W,K,S, even if I use both my roster moves on Shields and Plutko, the highest rated starters this week still available in my league. Do I split my moves and go for one of those starters and say Flores (which hittertron loves today)and try and boost my offensive stats, or try and keep up the arms race for pitching and go in on both starters?

@Grey:
He is full of shit. Trying to say why wud I hit him when I have to wait five days to pitch again..Even when he is saying all his BS, he so looks like he is lying and even on the field he kept starin down Acuna, like he wanted to fight.

Acuna – great for baseball
Urena – not so much.

I think Urena did this on his own. NO way Mattingly tells him to do that.

1) Restaurant Iced Tea–you hit the nail on the head with Berrios! It’s the uncertainty of which Berrios shows up that is the maddening part. Spot on.

2) Ugh. Tanaka is sucking immediately out of the gate today. On a day when I really needed him to twirl a gem. Is he tipping pitchers. WTF? And unfortunately it’s unavoidable. I mean, if we own Tanaka, how can we sit him against a team like the Rays? Is he now unownable?

3) I’m going on record now and saying I like Joe Ross next year. Yes, more than Tanaka. Right now I like everyone more than Tanaka.

4) As for the whole Urena thing, the Marlins make a really good argument for contraction. When a team is basically a triple A team, and can’t compete at this level, things like this become inevitable. A team should be folded after X amount of moribund years. It’s clear they’re nowhere now and going nowhere soon. Furthermore, they’re on pace for the worst year of attendance ever. Fold ’em. And if they’re gonna suspend Urena for any games (and I think they should end his season), I always think when pitchers are suspended it should be for games they would have pitched. If it’s fifteen games suspended, count out every fifth day as one of his suspended games (75 games total). I think that might end plunking. It’s always a joke to me when a guy’s suspended a dozen games and only misses two starts. And for any intentional plunking, the manager should be suspended an equal amount of games to the pitcher who plunked a guy under his watch/approval. Donnie Bushleague.

Morning! 1. Thanks! 2. So frustrating, think it’s time to move on (again) 3. Haha, me too 4. Yeah, if Mattingly didn’t know, then he should be suspended for not knowing what’s going on with his team, and if he knew, obviously suspended 5. Prolly 50/50 now

Looking for some more offense as the season is winding down and getting ready for the playoffs. In a 14 team H2H 5×5 with OBP and QS vs AVG & W. I own Hosmer so want an upgrade (what’s available). Also stuck with the platoon going on in Washington and LA- have Adams, Taylor, and also own Joc Pederson. Ready to drop Bundy for some offense. Not much available so wanted to get your thoughts:

David Bote
Tyler White or
Cedric Mullins

Deep league and not a lot available but need someone who will start consistently vs the platoon I have going. Feel good with my starting pitching (Nola, Corbin, Gausman, Godley, Severino, and Foltynewicz) with Eduardo Rodriguez and Tyler Glasnow on my bench so Bundy is odd man out.

BTW great call on Hedges, been great since picking him up. 2 catcher league so have to be excited about a producing catcher haha

Grey,
10 team, h2h points league – next week (8/20-26) do I dare start t. Anderson for a 2 week streamer pitcher or start my future spouse, Derek Rodriguez?
I grabbed Rhu in my other league and he is available, should I pick him up and forego Anderson?
I want to beat all my ego mania male team owners.
You are the best!

Grey, what’s up. You’ve been pumping that new Travis Scott album lately. I gave it a listen today – prettay good.

Anyway I haven’t been having good luck with SON this season. It seems to love Junis @ White Sox and Plutko vs BAL. I can only start one. Which one would you start if you had to? H2H Pts league, just need a somewhat quality start.. thanks sir!

What’s good Grey? Damn…you take one morning off from reading to drive home from vacation and it’s getting all fiesty up in here (e.g., Cram It vs. CC). I like a good fantasy baseball blog war of words as things were getting too comfortable.

Also, a couple days ago you said Beckham or Crawford were the best options for my 2B/SS position out on the waiver wire. They’re still there. Do Culberson, Bote, or Forsythe fit into the mix at all? Appreciate the advice.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is apparently “running the bases” during his recovery from an ankle/knee sprain. Since you’re probably during your prep for tomorrow’s column and buy/sell, I’m making a case that you include him on your “buy” side of the equation.

Lourdes didn’t do much when he was called up at the end of April, but after the Jays sent him down, when he came back at the end of June he raked. In 19 games he put up a line of .423 Avg, .438 OBP, and .648 SLG% before he got hurt. Sust Jaying…